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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.
Detroit Remains a City of Stark Contrasts
It can be difficult to recognize Detroit these days.
After all, it has made a remarkable transformation in the five years since city hall filed the municipal bankruptcy heard around the world.
Growing up and then coming of age in the late 1990s and early 2000s I never really knew Detroit. Yes, I went downtown for the occasional professional hockey or baseball game but in those days you arrived not long before game time and then afterwards got the heck out of town before the crowds dispersed. It wasn’t uncommon to see the suburban dwellers run stop signs and red lights on their way home over fear of getting carjacked. You also wouldn’t have seen someone stop within city limits at a gas station.
The only Michiganders who can remember a different Detroit are now in their 60s or 70s. My father, who graduated from high school in 1960, knew the city when it epitomized the American Dream.
Flash-forward to today and the city has an ever-changing downtown.
After years of leading the charge in revitalizing Detroit and renovating empty buildings — ranging from 1920s and 1930s art deco to early 1960s modernist — billionaire Dan Gilbert is erecting a 62-story skyscraper of the kind Toronto and other big cities long ago grew accustomed to having in its cityscape. But this is Detroit and Detroit hasn’t had a new skyscraper since 1977, when the hideous monstrosity that is the Renaissance Center was built along the riverfront.
Gilbert’s skyscraper hardly compares to the over-the-top buildings of Dubai or Abu Dhabi. It also doesn’t take a page from the
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.
‘Unfriended’ Author Shares Harmful Impact of Social Media, How to Get Back to True Community
When people seem to have more of a relationship with their cell phone than they do with other people, there’s a problem. And when social media becomes a place where people dump their garbage — all things mean and ugly — there’s a problem. Popular Christian Media leader Joe Battaglia addresses those issues in his new book, Unfriended: Finding True Community in a Disconnected Culture, and shares the effects living in a digital world is having on the human race and its need for true face-to-face community.
Battaglia is the president of Renaissance Communications and for decades he’s been a household name in marketing, broadcasting, journalism and more recently as an author. His first book, The Politically Incorrect Jesus, received wide acclaim and now his new book is on course to do the same with a very timely message.
In Unfriended, the New Jersey native wishes to help readers shake off their digital fatigue and get back to “real-life, real-world relationships with real people.” Battaglia uses research, personal insight, and biblical truths to help people trade the anonymity of the internet and get up close and personal with God’s workmanship.
“Get out from behind your screen and enjoy God’s creation,” Battaglia states in the book’s description.
The Christian Post interviewed Battaglia, who explains the importance of real-life community in a digital age. Below is an edited transcript.
Christian Post: Tell us about Unfriended and why you felt compelled to write…
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Russia hints at tough response to Ukrainian church split
Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch, last week effectively granted Ukraine the right to be independent from the Moscow Patriarchate.
In response, the Russian Orthodox Church suggested they wouldn’t attend gatherings by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Many in Ukraine want their church to separate from Russia because they fear political influence from the Kremlin. Russian clergy oppose they idea as it would see the biggest split in the church for thousands of years.
During a visit to Minsk on Saturday Russia’s Patriarch Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, said: “We are aware of how difficult the current situation in the brotherly land of Ukraine is,” he said. “But we believe that secular forces that aim to destroy the church will never succeed.”
Russia’s Holy Synod will meet on Monday to discuss it further and Patriarch Kirill urged prayer for the gathering: “It will be a very important meeting, during which certain decisions regarding the situation in Ukraine will be made,” he said.
On Thursday, a synod meeting of Bartholomew I decided to move towards granting Ukrainian ecclesiastical independence.
They revoked an 1686 letter which allows the Patriarch of Moscow to ordain the Metropolitan of Kiev, made the head of Ukrainian church answerable straight to Constantinople and not Russia and also lifted the anathema on two church leaders…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Pray for Carlisle Baptist Church
Location: Panama City, FL
Pastor: Vacant
Weekly Worship: 10:45 am, EST
Fast Facts: Carlisle Baptist is but one of many churches in the panhandle of Florida who was impacted by Hurricane Michael earlier this week. Here are before and after pics:
The church is currently without a pastor and now without a building. Please be in prayer for not only those in the church, but for the community in which they live. Carlisle Baptist represents dozens and dozens of churches who suffered great lost due to Michael. Be in prayer for those churches as well. For those looking to help churches and residents in their time of need, you can find information at SendRelief.org.
Website: CarlisleBaptist.com
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for these churches noted every Sunday. Please feel free to comment that you are praying as well.
If you would like to have your church featured in the “Pray for…” series, fill out this information form..
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.
Date set for evangelism court hearing in Algeria
Algerian Christians are requesting prayer for four believers, including three from the same family, who are being put in court because of potential evangelism and will appear in court in Province of Bouira, in the Kabylie region of Algeria.
They are accused of “inciting a Muslim to change his religion”, a criminal offence, and “performing religious worship in an unauthorised place”, which goes against Algeria’s Law 03/2006, commonly known as Law 03/06 – a law that governs non-Muslim worship.
Christian argue that the 03/06 law is unconstitutional, citing the Algerian constitution’s Article 42, which guarantees freedom of belief, opinion and worship.
The charges follow accusations made in July 2018 by a woman,40, whose husband, 50, had converted to Christianity.
She and members of her family filed a complaint against her Christian husband, and also against a Christian family that had tried to mitigate a conflict between the wife and husband, accusing them of “wanting to pressure her to become a Christian.”
She said they took her to church tried to persuade her to leave Islam.
The defendants were meant to appear before court 9 October, but the hearing has been postponed to 6th November.
Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily newsletter and receive more stories like this straight to your…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Pope makes El Salvador’s Oscar Romero a saint
Pope Francis has praised two of the towering figures of the 20th-century Catholic Church as prophets who shunned wealth and looked out for the poor as he canonised Pope Paul VI and martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Francis declared the two men saints at a Mass in St Peter’s Square before tens of thousands of pilgrims, a handful of presidents and some 5,000 Salvadoran pilgrims.
Tens of thousands more Salvadorans stayed up all night at home to watch it on giant TV screens outside the San Salvador cathedral where Archbishop Romero’s remains are entombed.
In a sign of the strong influence Paul and the archbishop had on history’s first Latin American pope, Francis wore the blood-stained rope belt that Archbishop Romero wore when he was gunned down in 1980 and also used Paul’s staff, chalice and pallium vestment.
Paul presided over the modernising yet polarising church reforms of the 1960s, while Archbishop Romero was murdered by El Salvador’s right-wing death squads for his fearless defence of the poor.
In his homily, Francis called Paul a “prophet of a church turned outwards” to care for the faraway poor.
He said Archbishop Romero gave up his security and life to “be close to the poor and his people”.
And he warned that those who do not follow their example to leave behind everything, including their wealth, risk never truly finding God.
“Wealth is dangerous and…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Pastor Andrew Brunson prays for Trump in Oval Office
President Trump invited Mr Brunson to the White House to celebrate his release from nearly two years of confinement, from which he was freed on Friday.
“From a Turkish prison to the White House in 24 hours, that’s not bad,” Trump said.
Brunson left Turkey immediately, had a medical check-up in Germany and then returned to the US aboard a military jet shortly before meeting the president.
He was detained in October 2016, accused of being part of a failed coup in the country. He was formally arrested that December and placed under house arrest on July 25 for health reasons.
As part of a press conference, the evangelical pastor from Izmir Resurrection Church in Turkey, asked if he could pray for the US President.
The president replied, “Well, I need it probably more than anyone else in this room, so that would be very nice, thank you.”
Brunson left his chair beside Trump, kneeled and placed a hand on the president’s shoulder.
As Trump bowed his head, Brunson prayed: “God, I ask that you pour out your Holy Spirit on President Trump, that you give him supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country and for him. I ask that you give him wisdom in how to lead this country into righteousness.
“I ask that you give him perseverance, and endurance and courage to stand for truth. I ask that you to protect him from slander from enemies, from those who…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Ashers Christian couple say 4 year legal battle was worth it
In an interview with The Christian Institute, who backed Ashers Baking Company in the case, Daniel McArthur says the four year-long legal battle was “absolutely worth it” because they trust they were doing what God wanted them to do and “We believe that we’ve been following his will the whole time”.
“The past four years have really strengthened my faith in God” said Amy McArthur, “I have really felt his comfort and his peace and his strength like I have never experienced before – for that alone it would have been worth it”.
Daniel and Amy McArthur run a family-owned bakery business and in 2014 refused to make a cake that said ‘Support Gay Marriage’ on because it conflicted with their Christian faith and conscience.
A court case was initiated by the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland, who claimed that the gay man who ordered the cake, Gareth Lee, was being discriminated against.
However, the UK Supreme Court ruled that they had not discriminated on grounds of sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion in declining the order as they had the freedom to not express an opinion they don’t hold.
Judges unanimously agreed the bakery had objected to the message and not the messenger, with Justice Lady Hale saying: “They would have refused to make such a cake for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation.”
“Their objection was to…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Joyce Meyer Devotional 14 October 2018 — Nothing But Christ
Topic: Nothing But Christ [Joyce Meyer Devotional 14 October 2018]
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. — Matthew 14:23
I’ve tried to imagine what it would have been like to go to Corinth or other Greek cities at the time of Paul and try to speak to those wise, brilliant thinkers. After studying every parchment given to me, and gaining knowledge of all their arguments, I would have prayed for God to help me overcome their objections.
We don’t know what Paul did, but his answer is astounding. Instead of going after them with great reasoning and sharp logic, he went in exactly the opposite direction. He stayed in Corinth a year and a half, and many came to Christ because of him.
Later, when he wrote 1 Corinthians, he said, For I made the decision to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (2:2).
That’s amazing. If any man had the ability to reason with those Greeks and could show them the fallacies of their logic, surely that man was Paul. But, being led by the Holy Spirit, he chose a defenseless presentation—to let God speak through him and touch the hearts of the people.
Now, centuries later, I appreciate his approach—although I didn’t always feel this way. For a long time I wanted to explain and reason out everything, but when that didn’t work, I ended up feeling miserable.
I’ve always been curious, always wanted to know, and always wanted to figure out the answer. Then, God began to work in my life. He showed me that my constant drive to figure it out caused me confusion and prevented me from receiving many of the things He wanted me to have. He said, “You must lay aside carnal reasoning if you expect to have discernment.”
I didn’t like loose ends, so I felt more secure when I figured things out. I wanted to be in control of every detail of every situation. When I didn’t understand or was unable to figure things out, I felt out of control. And that was frightening to me. Something was wrong—I was troubled and had no peace of mind. Sometimes, frustrated and exhausted, I would just give up.
It was a long battle for me because I finally admitted something to myself (God knew it all along): I was addicted to reasoning. It was more than a tendency or desire to figure out things. It was a compulsion. I had to have answers—and had to have them right now. When God was finally able to convince me of my addiction, I was able to give it up.
It wasn’t easy. Like people who withdraw from drugs or alcohol, I had withdrawal symptoms. I felt lost. Frightened. Alone. I had always depended on my ability to figure things out. Now, like Paul, I had to depend on God.
Too many people assume that relying only on God is something we do easily and naturally. It didn’t work that way with me. But God was gracious and patient with me. It was as if He’d whisper, “You’re not there yet, Joyce, but you’re making progress. It’s uncomfortable because you’re learning a new way to live.”
God wants us to be victorious—and I knew that all along. Now I walk in greater victory than ever before—and I no longer try to reason out everything before I act.
Prayer Starter: Heavenly Father, thank You for being so patient with me and people like me who feel we must have all the answers before we can act or trust. In the name of Jesus, help me to simply trust in You, knowing that You will give me what is best for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Joyce Meyer Daily Devotional HERE’’
From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.
The post Joyce Meyer Devotional 14 October 2018 — Nothing But Christ appeared first on Flatimes.
